faithrunner

Last Saturday, I ran the Grasslands Trail Marathon outside Decatur, TX. The trails are part of the Caddo-LBJ National Grasslands , which are mostly used for horse riding, but last Saturday, the runners took over the trails early. Thanks to the Race Director and all the volunteers (and cooks!) who made it a wonderful experience. The weather was ideal in the morning , but got up to 80F in the afternoon, which made for a warm finish. What added to the fun was it had rained hard the week before , and the trails were muddy and many places had standing water --memories of our trail half-marathon about a month ago . (Although, that was a much more rugged course.) Every run is a laboratory. You learn something every time you go out because every time is different. You are different. The course is different, and the conditions are never the same.  Grasslands Trail Run, NTTR.org So what did I learn this outing? Running in creation is still better than running on streets....

This weekend I will run my tenth marathon since 2000. The Grasslands Trail Run will be my first trail marathon but not my first trail run. Trail running is my preferred environment and community for running. Running on dirt in forests, fields, and mountains is how running has always been done . I have run as many 25M and 50K trail runs as I have marathons during this same time period, and I have finished a 50M run, DNF'd one other, and attempted one 100-miler, which ended me at mile 73. Why the partial running resume? I like to run . I haven't been to a psychologist yet to dig into why my obsession is so deep or why I started running ultras until I was 45. But, more important than why I like to run, running--distance running--has become a metaphor for life for me . I reminded my listeners this past Sunday as Legacy Church that long-distance running is a metaphor for life because somewhere in a long run  you come to the point you want to give up. It's usually ...